Group eyes signature drive if congressional redistricting fizzles

Supporters of congressional redistricting reform are getting antsy and may start getting serious about a citizen-led ballot issue if lawmakers don't act by the end of the year.

Jim Siegel, The Columbus Dispatch

Supporters of congressional redistricting reform are getting antsy and may start getting serious about a citizen-led ballot issue if lawmakers don’t act by the end of the year.

As it celebrated the 272nd birthday of Elbridge Gerry, the former Massachusetts governor and signer of the Declaration of Independence whose district drawing led to the term “gerrymandering,” the Fair Districts = Fair Elections coalition on Thursday again urged state lawmakers to act.

Lawmakers placed legislative redistricting on the 2015 ballot and it passed overwhelmingly, but GOP leaders have shown no enthusiasm to bring more bipartisanship and rules to how congressional seats are drawn.

Catherine Turcer of Common Cause Ohio, lit a “3” candle on a cake decorated to honor the late George Voinovich, Ohio’s former senator and governor who was a proponent of redistricting reform, calling it the “simplest way to get Washington moving again.”

The number, she said, represented the number of years the Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission has studied redistricting reform without making a recommendation. The current lines are drawn by the legislature, which often draws safe seats and, in the case when one party controls both chambers and the governor’s office, draws seats to heavily benefit one political party.

Republicans currently hold 12 of 16 congressional seats in Ohio, and competitive races are almost non-existent. A bipartisan Senate proposal to change the map-drawing process was introduced a year ago but has not had a hearing.

“I’m here today to say, enough is enough,” Turcer said. “We have been talking for years and years about redistricting reform…You can’t actually study away a problem. You actually have to make changes.”

Redistricting supporters, including Secretary of State Jon Husted and Gov. John Kasich, have argued gerrymandering causes partisan gridlock and less accountability among elected leaders because most are in safe seats and only worry about primary challenges.

Lawmakers would need to act by Aug. 10 to get an issue on the November ballot. Even Turcer admitted that was a “fantasy, like unicorns.” They could also act later this year to put it on the 2017 ballot, or not place it on the ballot at all and just change the law.

“There is no reason to sit on these bills,” said Camille Wimbish of the Ohio Voter Rights Coalition. “There is overwhelming consensus that reform is needed.”

Turcer said if lawmakers don’t act by the end of the year, her coalition will start planning for a signature gathering effort to get redistricting on the ballot.

“There’s no reason for us to spend the money and the people power on something that there’s a clear understanding that we need,” she said.